Posts tagged printing tips
How to use ‘Print Screen’ button? (PrtSc)
Dec 3rd
Many have asked me this question. In every computer key board, you will see this ‘Print Screen’ button. The basic functionality of this ‘KEY’ is to capture the snap shot (screen Shot) of the current screen you are viewing in your monitor and save it as an image file. It is like taking a photo of your monitor screen. Once you click this ‘Print screen’ button the screen image is captured and stored in teh clip board (computer memory). Then you can use the ‘Ctrl + V’ buttons together to paste it into any image processing software such as ‘MS Paint’, ‘Adobe Photoshop’ or any other Office applications such as Word, Excel or powerpoint. Once you paste it into any of these applications you can save it and then use the image later for any purpose. Here are the steps to use print screen feature.
- To capture the entire screen image from your monitor exactly as it looks, then in your key board look for the ‘Prt Sc’ button and click it once.
- Then as mentioned above, open any applications such as MS Paint etc and paste it. You can paste by pressing ‘Ctrl + V’ button together or using the ‘Edit->paste’ menu option.
- You will see the exact screen image inside the MS Paint application as an image.
- You can now, resize it, modify it if required and save it under any name you want for later retrieval.
- If you have opened more than one windows in the screen and you want to capture the snap shot of just one window and not the entire screen, then press ‘Alt’ key while pressing the ‘Prt Sc’ button. This will capture the image of the active window.
Ok now you have mastered the art of print screen. But why do you need this. The most common use of this feature is to capture ‘Error messages’ in applications for your support engineers to see later.
What is Inkjet cartridge refilling?
Dec 3rd
Some tips to save money while using Inkjet Printers
In early days of computer history everyone used a dot matrix printer. Only Printing presses, publishers and DTP designers used a laser printer. In those days the price of a laser printer was very expensive and was not affordable for small businesses and home users. Inkjet Printers were introduced at affordable prices for small businesses and home users. But those who bought inkjet printers would agree that though the inkjet printers were cheap, the inkjet printer cartridges are not cheap. These cartridges have to be constantly refilled or replaced after printing a number of pages. Buying new inkjet printer cartridges every time is very expensive and unaffordable. But instead of buying new cartridge everytime you can refill the ink in the same cartridge and save a lot of money. but even refilling has to be done carefully as there are many who cheat.
In dot matrix printers, the cost of printing a page is very less. If the printing quality is not good then you can change the ink ribbon for 1 or 2 dollars and you can start printing again in dot matrix printers. But the quality of printing in dotmatrix printer cannot compare with the high quality of printing in inkjet and laser printers.
But changing cartridges in inkjet printers is very expensive. For example, a HP black inkjet cartridge costs around $20 to $30. The price of an EPSON inkjet printer cartridge is around $10 to $20. Lexmark cartridges are even more expensive than the HP cartridges. Because of these high costs people prefer the refill options. A cartridge can be refilled atleast 6 to 8 times. Many use this cheaper refilling option and save money.
The size of a cartridge is usually 10ml to 20ml based on the inkjet printer model. You can buy a 1 litre black ink bottle for less than $30. Assume that the cartridge size is approximately 20ml, then you can refill this cartridge atleast 40 times. So in effect you are only spending less than a dollar for a cartridge.
Even color inkjet cartridges can be refilled at around the same price. The color cartridges can hold less amount of ink but there are three colour cartridges. Approximately they can hold 5ml to 7 ml of ink. Each color cartridge costs around $25 for a one liter bottle. The machine used to refill this ink costs around $120.
If you need more details on refilling cartridges and want to know the companies who do this business just search in google for the term ‘Inkjet cartridge refilling’.
How to reduce printing cost at home?
Dec 3rd
It is very hard to find a computer user without owning a printer. Because the printers are very affordable. However the maintenance of a printer is very expensive. You need to by ink cartridges, toners, papers etc. The price of ink cartridges, toners and papers are very expensive. Therefore it is the printing that is expensive not a printer.
Here are some tips to reduce the printing cost.
- Always use ‘Print Preview’ before printing
Most of the applications provide the ‘Print Preview’ feature which shows how it will look like in print. It will also show details such as how many pages it will take to print, how much margin will be left etc. If you think the preview is not how you want the printout to be then use the page setup to make the required changes and preview it again until you see the way you want.
- Avoid colour printing if possible
If you have a color printer then take color print outs only when necessary and if not just use the black and white printing.
- Print in low resolution
The higher the resolution you select for printing the more the toner ink will be used to print. If you are price conscious then select low resolution unless it is required.
- Do not print the background
If you don’t print the background of the document such as a background color, image or water mark, then you can save a lot of ink. If you are printing a webpage using internet explorer, select Tools->Internet Options, select the ‘Advanced’ tab and in the ‘Printing’ section remove the check box in the ‘Pain background colors and images’ option.
- Just select the area you want to print
If you do not want the whole document and need only a few paragraph or a few pages then just select those paragraphs or pages and print them. To print selected paragraphs, select the paragraphs and then select File->Print and in the ‘Print what’ section tick the ‘Selection’ radio button.
- Print on both sides of the Paper
If you print each page on a separate paper it look nice but it will use more paper. So you can choose to print on both sides of the paper to save paper.
- Use the ‘Draft’ option
If you are just printing the draft version for proof reading then use the ‘draft’ feature in the printer properties to print a draft quality to save ink. When you print your original copy then remember to remove the ‘draft’ setting.
- Refill cartridges
The printer manufacturers make more money in selling cartridges than in selling printers. If the ink / toner cartridges are empty then instead of buying a new cartridge you can opt to buy a refillable ink cartridge. You can save upto 50-70%.
- Update the printer driver
Go to the printer manufacturer’s website and see if there is any update for your printer driver. If there is then download and install it.
- Use Photocopies.
If you need multiple copies of a single document then print one copy in the printer and then make photocopies of the document then printing as many copies using your printer.
How to print on both sides of the paper?
Dec 3rd
While printing using Laser printers, you need to insert pages one by one to print. Because of this, only one side of the paper can be printed at a time. But most of the times we may want to print on both sides of the paper. If you are facing with a similar need to print on both sides of the paper, then follow these tips.
First insert a paper. Carefully note, which side of the paper is being printed by the printer. After printing the first page, printer will alert saying that the paper tray is empty. Now insert the same printed paper but this time insert it the other way, so that the printer will print on the blank side of the paper. Now press on ‘resume printing / continue printing’ button. As soon as you insert the paper, the printer will use its sensors to sense and suck inside to start printing the second page.
But the method described above is not the best way to print on both sides of the paper. There is another easier method. When you give the ‘Print’ command, in the Printer dailog box, look for the ‘Pages’ section and type numbers ‘1,3,5,7….’ (which is all the odd numbers). Remember to use a comma in between two numbers. In some printers you will see ‘Odd Pages’ option. If your printer has this option then you can just select this option instead of typing all the odd numbers in the Pages box. Now your printer will print all the odd pages of the document and start printing. Again see which side of the page is the printing page. After all the odd pages are printed, take all these printed papers and place them again in the paper tray (note that you should place them such that the printing side is correct). After you place them, again give the ‘Print’ command and either type all the even numbers such as ‘2,4,6,8…’ etc or select the ‘Even pages’ option. Now you will get both pages of the paper printed correctly.
Note that some newer printers are more intelligent and has an option to specify that ‘print both sides’ of the paper. If your printer has this option then printer will print the first page and automatically the paper will be sucked in for printing the second side of the page.
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